Surfer knocked unconscious by whale at Bondi

A surfer has been knocked unconscious by a 15-metre humpback whale that flicked him off his board at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The whale was among surfers about 70 metres offshore on Sunday morning when it got too close to one of them and knocked him off his board.

The man lost consciousness for about 10 seconds and other surfers managed to help him back to the beach.

He was treated by paramedics and lifeguards before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a stable condition.

Bondi lifeguard Adrian Kovacic says lifesavers had spotted the whale in the water and had been aware of the potential for injury.

"The whale came heaps close to shore and then the surfers were heaps close to it," Mr Kovacic told AAP. "We sent our lifeguard to make a big radius around the whale to get everyone away, and while he was doing that one guy got too close and got hit by the tail.

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Shark Mauls Surfer On Remote Australian Beach

A 34-year-old surfer is in a stable condition after being attacked by a shark in a remote area of Western Australia.

The man was bitten in the abdomen and on the right arm while surfing at Red Bluff on Australia's north west coast on Tuesday afternoon.

The victim, Jon Hines, was helped to safety by a fellow surfer and driven by beachgoers for an hour-and-a-half over dirt tracks to meet an ambulance, which then transferred him to a hospital 140km (85 miles) away in Carnarvon.

He was later flown to the state capital Perth for further treatment.

The attack comes six weeks after surfer Ben Linden, 24, was killed by a five metre (16ft) great white 100 miles (160km) north of Perth in the fifth fatal mauling in Western Australian waters in 10 months.

The spate of attacks has reopened the debate about how best to manage the shark population off the Australian coast.

A report was recently commissioned by the Western Australia state government.

The state's premier, Colin Barnett, said he was considering easing restrictions on both the number of sharks professional fisherman could catch, and on culling large great whites that lurk close to swimming areas.

Continued:   http://uk.news.yahoo.com/shark-mauls-surfer-remote-australian-beach-060057841.html